Biomedical subjects

G C Okeke

Publications and source records attributed to G C Okeke.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1988

Semen characteristics of the guinea fowl Numida meleagris meleagris.

Eighteen adult exotic Golden Sovereign guinea fowl (Numida meleagris meleagris) males identified by leg bands and housed individually in cages were ejaculated two times a week at 4- and 3-d intervals (Mondays and Thursdays) for 6 wk. Semen was obtained manually by gently massaging the dorso-lateral lumbo-sacral region. Semen collection and evaluation were done between 1400 and 1800 h each day of test. Mean semen volume was 0.032+/-0.001 ml, sperm motility was 37.1+/-0.1% and sperm concentration/ml was 2.62+/-0.01x10(9). Percentage live sperm averaged 91.6+/-0.1, while the mean percentage morphologically normal spermatozoa was 76.9+/-0.5. Primary and secondary sperm abnormalities were 11.9+/-0.2% and 11.3+/-0.2%, respectively. Birds differed significantly in all ejaculate characteristics studied except percent secondary abnormalities, indicating that considerable variation exists for improvement of these semen traits. There were significant bird x collection interval (P<0.05) and birdxweek (P<0.01) interactions for sperm concentration/ml and bird x week interaction for sperm motility (P<0.05). The results generally are within acceptable levels and show that the semen is suitable for use in artificial insemination.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1987

Chemotherapy in the control of urinary schistosomiasis in Nigeria.

Praziquantel (Biltricide, Bayer AG), which has been found to be very effective in the treatment of schistosomiasis, was evaluated to formulate the minimal cost-effective dose in selective chemotherapy of 135 school children aged 6-15 years. Side effects were minimal. The drug had no effect on the heavy load of intestinal helminths found in 78.1% of the subjects. However, it cleared the urinary schistosomiasis in all but 0.9% of the subjects at the dosages used and after 18 months only 0.59% of the entire school population had new infections. The targetted chemotherapy reduced the prevalence rate from 16.0% to 0.59%. The lowest dose of 1 X 20 mg/kg body weight was able to clear the light infections of 52 subjects. This has a great economic advantage because the drug is expensive and most of the infections in Nigeria are light to moderate.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1987

Ijanikin: a study of environmental health in a rural Nigerian community.

Ijanikin is a typical Yoruba village in the rain forest belt area of Southern Nigeria. The childhood years in this community are fraught with the danger of numerous communicable diseases, compounded by inadequate supply of good quality foods to meet normal requirements and allow a margin of safety for the stress of infections. Overcrowding and poor ventilation in the houses are important factors in the spread of communicable diseases, while poor sanitation and deficient personal hygiene account for the heavy burden of intestinal parasitoses. Improvement in the health of this and other similar rural communities would require the provision of clean water supply, installation of essential sanitary facilities, provision of adequate food supply, and a well-planned and carefully executed health education programme.

Animals↗

PubMed1983

Effects of buffers on ruminal rate of passage and degradation of soybean meal in steers.

Eight rumen-fistulated steers were randomly assigned to medium- and high-concentrate diets supplemented with 0, .75, 2.5 and 5% of either sodium bicarbonate or an artificial saliva salts mixture. Each animal was fed for 21 d at 75 g dry matter/kg body weight . 75. Rates of soybean meal (SBM) degradation were predicted by adjusting digestion rates in nylon bags with respective passage rates of chromium-mordanted SBM particles. Measures of rumen fermentation were made during the incubation period. Liquid dilution rate was determined with 51Cr-EDTA. The high-concentrate diet produced higher (P less than .05) liquid dilution rates than the medium-concentrate diet, but there were no differences in response to the two buffers (P greater than .05). The liquid dilution rates averaged across diets for 0, .75, 2.5 and 5% levels of buffer were 6.2, 6.3, 8.5 and 8.7%/h (SE = .03) and passage rates for SBM were 5.2, 5.2, 6.5 and 6.7%/h (SE = .025). The 2.5 and 5% levels of buffer increased the rate of disappearance of SBM from the nylon bags and buffers fed at these levels also increased rumen pH and NH3-N concentration. Rumen pH was correlated with N disappearance from the nylon bag (r = .903, P less than .05). Buffer levels did not affect degradation rates of SBM.

Animals↗

PubMed1983

Effect of sodium bicarbonate on rate of passage and degradation of soybean meal in postpartum dairy cows.

Effects of sodium bicarbonate on rate of passage and disappearance of soybean meal from the rumen were determined in a change-over experiment with eight cows. Experimental diets containing 50 or 60% roughage were fed over five 21-day periods with four cows per diet. Sodium bicarbonate at 1.0 and 2.5% (diet dry matter) were changed over in periods 2 and 4, whereas periods 1, 3, and 5 served as control. Rate of passage of soybean meal was measured with chromium-mordanted soybean meal and rate of disappearance by nylon bag technique. Effects of diet were similar for all responses. Response to the two percents of buffer was similar for dry matter intake, milk yield, milk fat, and protein. Percent buffer fed was associated positively with ruminal pH and with disappearance of nitrogen from nylon bags. The 0, 1, and 2.5% of buffer resulted in turnover rates of mordanted soybean meal of 8.22, 9.80, and 10.52%/h, but degradation of protein remained relatively constant at 36.0, 38.4, and 38.2%. The influence of rate of passage on ruminal degradability is discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed1983

Pancreatic ascites.

A case of pancreatic ascites in an African is presented. It is a rare condition which is rapidly fatal. The diagnosis can be established if the clinician is aware of this condition; the significant finding is a grossly elevated ascitic fluid amylase.

Adult↗

PubMed1982

Studies on the etiology and symptomatology of root and storage rot disease of cocoyam in Nigeria.

The losses caused by root and storage rot of cocoyam in Nigeria are estimated as 40 to 45%. Field symptoms of the disease include inhibited growth, leaf chlorosis followed by necrosis and shrivelling of affected parts, and finally premature death of the aerial portions of the plant. A large proportion of the roots are destroyed. Poor production of cormels and reduced corm size are other field symptoms of the disease, differing according to the type of causal agent. Botryodiplodia theobromae, Fusarium solani, F. moniliforme, and Sclerotium rolfsii were isolated from diseased corms, occurring single or in mixed infection. All isolated fungi proved pathogenous on Xantbosoma spec. as well as on Colocasia spec., with Colocasia exhibiting greater damages. Three types of rot are suggested for classification of cocoyam rot in Nigeria: black rot, Fusarium rot, Sclerotium rot.

Fusarium↗

PubMed1980

Amoebic abscess in the cirrhotic liver.

Though amoebic liver abscess and liver cirrhosis occur very commonly in hospital practice in the tropics, they have not to the knowledge of the present authors hitherto been reported to occur simultaneously in the same patient. The patient described here, who had clear-cut clinical and histological features of chronic liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension and ascites, presented somewhat acutely with liver pain and an amoebic liver abscess that contained 'chocolate sauce' on needle aspiration. The amoebic abscess, although, no doubt, superimposed on chronic irreversible cirrhosis, rapidly regressed on metronidazole therapy. The infrequency with which liver abscess and liver cirrhosis coexist cannot be satisfactorily explained. It is probable, however, that extensive scarring in the liver may prevent entamoeba histolytica from thriving.

Humans↗